


Day #7: A Beautiful Sight, We're Happy Tonight

by OJared



Series: The Christmas You Get You Deserve.  Destiel Ficmas. [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Autism, Autistic Meltdown, Cas is only in it a little, Dean deals with his Autistic Daughter, Dean-Centric, Destiel - Freeform, Father-Daughter Relationship, Ficmas, Ficmas Day 7, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Meltdown, Post-Christmas, School, Young Gabriel, Young Sam Winchester, autistic child, is bad, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 14:42:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5378885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OJared/pseuds/OJared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean has to deal with the back to school run just after Christmas and with an Autistic daughter that hates school, it's hard.</p><p>Or</p><p>The one where Dean's child has Autism but Autism isn't his child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day #7: A Beautiful Sight, We're Happy Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [Winter Wonderland by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcXSm51UI5M)

“I don’ wanna go back to school!” Leigh cried, hiding behind the coats on the coat rack and sobbing.

 

It had taken Dean an hour to get her dressed and in the hall and he was going to have to take her in just socks, since she was refusing to put her snow boots on. So, he grabbed the boots from the floor and shoved them in her book bag before walking over and picking her up. Sometimes, he wished that he was the one that worked early so that he wouldn’t have to deal with her in the morning.

 

“Right, come on.” He said, bending down and picking her up, prying her hands off one of the coats she was gripping.

 

She started screaming as they left and Mr Carson, unfortunately, was shoveling the snow off his drive. He looked over, sympathy in his eyes as Leigh kept on screaming and wiggling.

 

She straightened herself out and kicked her legs, making it as difficult as possible and probably giving him some nice bruises on his thighs.

 

“Leigh Mary Winchester, if you don’t settle down right now then I’m not taking you to work with me on Saturday.” Dean whispers, his words like ice as they chased his visible-breath.

 

Leigh immediately stopped kicking and wiggling and buried her head in her Dad’s shoulder and started sobbing again.

 

Dean’s heart broke for her, he knew she hated it but she had to go. They couldn’t afford homeschooling.

 

“Do you want me to come in with you?” He asked, stroking a hand over her hair as he stumbled down the icy path to the car where Sam was sat patiently in the back. They were all already late, except for Dean, who had taken the day off because he knew this was going to happen.

 

Leigh nodded gently against his shoulder and Dean opened the car door, placing her in her car seat and strapping her in.

 

“Okay, baby girl, we can do this, right?” He asked, crouched next to the open car door.

 

He watched as she shook her head and started biting her fingernails, luckily, Dean had seen it coming and wrapped them in little tiny bandages so she wouldn’t damage her fingers. Leigh seemed to bite her fingers a lot and she had bitten them raw on her first day of school and had to come home early. Come to think of it, that hadn’t been the best start to school life, but Dean had expected it to get better.

 

Smiling reassuringly at her, he stood up and shut the door.

 

“Dean! Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you wanted me to clear your path for you. It’s very icy and I have the day off.” Mr Carson suddenly turned up next to him, sporting his thick ski gloves and snow shovel. His cheeks were rosy and his hat sat so far on the back of his head that his receding hairline was visible.

 

“Um, yeah. Sure, thanks. I might be able to come help you out in a bit, if I manage to get the little one settled at school.” He agreed, smiling back at Mr Carson’s enthusiastic grin.

 

“Sure thing. Will she be alright? Only, I watched a documentary about kids like her once and I know they can find a lot of things hard.”

 

‘Well, hark at you. Fucking autism expert after watching one documentary.’ Dean wanted to day but instead, settled for, “Yeah, she’ll be fine. It’s just gruelling taking her to school when I know that it’s not doing her much good.”

 

He quickly said goodbye to Mr Carson after Sam angrily banged against the car window, yelling that they were already half an hour late.

 

So, Dean skidded his way round to the driver’s side and set off, dropping Sam off with no fuss.

 

Leigh, surprisingly wasn’t that bad. She was still chewing her fingers but had let Dean put her shoes on and lead her into the school. It was once inside that she broke down and in a way that Dean had never seen before. Most of the time, her meltdowns could be described as uncontrollable tantrums but this one had her pacing and hitting herself in the arms over and over again. When Dean reached out to grab her hands and stop her from hurting herself, she only screamed, one long continuous scream and so Dean stepped away, to let her calm down on her own.

 

He felt an unimaginable pain watching his daughter suffer and not be able to do anything about. All he wanted to do was pull her into a hug and take her home so they could sit in bed and watch Power Rangers all day.

 

Eventually, though, she calmed down and resulted to sitting by Dean on the floor in the corridor with her little head in her little hands. She looked so vulnerable and Dean decided, then and there that school was not a good thing for his daughter and that her education was not worth her mental health.

 

“Hello?” A chipper voice came from the classroom door and Dean looked up to see a kind looking young women he had never seen before. She took a few steps forward and sat down against the wall across from them.

 

“My name’s JoJo. Can I ask what your’s is?” She smiled at Leigh, who still had her head in her hands.

 

Leigh didn’t make a move but Dean knew better than to nudge her.

 

“Do you not want to say anything?” JoJo asked, still smiling straight at Leigh, who, surprisingly, shook her head.

 

“Okay, then, that’s fine. You can just listen to me talk some nonsense and tell me to shut up when you feel like it,” She was still smiling as she turned to look at Dean, “I’m a new teaching assistant. I specialise in Early Years Children that struggle with learning difficulties.”

 

Dean nodded, glancing back down at Leigh, who still had her head down.

 

“I’m here specifically for you, Leigh. So, whenever you’re here, I’m here and I’d like to get to know you some, so I can help you out.” She was still smiling, talking to a hunched over Leigh.

 

It was only then that Dean remembered he had Fluffer- the blanket Gabe had gotten her -in his pocket.

 

“Hey, Leigh, look who I found.” He said, pulling the scrap from his pocket and holding it out.

 

Leigh looked up hesitantly before noticing Fluffer and breaking out into a grin. She grabbed it and smiled down at the little face on it.

 

“Th-This i-is m-my-my F-luffer.” She stated and she looked at Jo for the first time, still smiling.

 

That was the first time Dean had heard Leigh say a full sentence in front of someone new. Language hadn’t been as much of a struggle as Dean thought it would have been but she still struggled around people she didn’t know.

 

“Really? Does it make you feel safe?” Jo asks and Dean expected her to sit forward but she stayed where she was as Leigh nodded.

 

“G-Gabby g-got i-i-,” She paused to take a big breath, “Christmas.” She settled on, deciding she couldn’t get it all out probably.

 

“Who’s Gabby? Is she your friend?” Jo asked, she was asking a lot of questions. Dean didn’t want Leigh to get overwhelmed and was about to answer for her but she beat him to it.

 

“H-he m-my f-fend.” She stuttered out, not making eye contact.

 

“Is he? Is he really nice to you?”

 

Leigh nodded and looked up to Jo. Dean smiled.

 

“How do you feel when you’re around him?”

 

Dean knew as soon as she’d asked, and suspected she did too, that that question was too big and complicated for Leigh to answer and she curled back up. 

 

Jo took this time to talk to Dean.

 

“Are you okay with me staying with Leigh whilst she is at school?”

 

Dean thought for a second, knowing he’d have to talk to Cas about it.

 

“I’ll have to talk to my partner about it but I don’t see why not. Anything to help her.”

 

After that, Leigh came back out of her shell quick enough, talking to Leigh about everything and nothing. She even let Dean leave.

 

Later that night when everyone was home, even Gabe was there, Leigh was chatting animatedly and freely about her amazing day at school. Cas was gobsmacked, hearing all these stories about JoJo and how she had helped her with her work and had sat with her all through lunch and had let her sit in the quiet room for a bit afterwards. They just kept on coming and Dean sat with Cas between his legs, leaning back on his chest and listened to Leigh, who was writing something secret that JoJo had asked her to do in her note book with a blue crayon.

 

Gabe and Sam were god-knows-where but Dean honestly didn’t care. His baby girl was happy after an almost full day at school. 

 

“This JoJo’s a miracle worker.” Cas breathed quietly, making sure he didn’t interrupt Leigh’s current telling of how JoJo had a big box full of _s-t-I-r-a-f-O-m_ pellets that she had let Leigh put her hands in and play with.

 

“Tell me about it.” Dean whispered back, pressing a kiss to Cas’ forehead.

 

As soon as Leigh finished her story, Cas got up, groaning like an old man as he did and claimed it was bed time. Leigh disagreed, as usual but didn’t protest as Cas scooped her up and carried her giggling up the stairs.

 

Dean could hear them splashing about and he knew that he couldn’t wish for a better life.

He would never replace Leigh for anything. Her autism was one of her best qualities, but it wasn't her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Kudos and comments appreciated!
> 
> ༶･･ᗰદ૨૨ʏ ᘓમ૨ıડτന੨ડ･･༶


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